KVIL adds Kannon in the morning
The latest step in the DFW radio-personality shuffle has brought Mike Kannon, the former morning-show host at KLIF/93.3 FM, to the morning slot at KVIL/103.7 FM.
Kannon — who goes by Kannon on-air — began Wednesday morning on the adult-contemporary station, filling a slot that’s been vacant on KVIL since Zazza Mornings with Tony Zazza and Julie Fisk was dropped in November.
In a case of what the radio gods take away, they also give, Kannon was dropped in October by KLIF when it switched from the i93 format to Hot 93.3, which at first sounded like i93-style top 40, then switched briefly to classic hip-hop, and is now more contemporary hip-hop and R&B.
“Kannon brings a wealth of social-media experience and an expansive knowledge of everything pop culture to our more music morning show on the New 103.7 KVIL,” program director Jay Michaels said in a release. Kannon indeed is social-media savvy: check him out on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Kannon’s resume includes stations in Philadelphia, Atlanta and Portland, Maine. Per a KVIL release, he began his radio career as a high school student in Raleigh, N.C., hosting weekend overnights at WRDU-FM and went on to become the mix show DJ in Boston for a nationally syndicated program, Open House Party, which he now hosts on Sunday nights. Kannon will be based in DFW, and Open House Party will begin airing on KVIL this weekend.
The Kannon move is the latest in a series of changes at KVIL that began in early 2013 when the station dropped longtime morning-show duo Gene and Julie Gates. The Gateses are now doing mornings at WRAL — coincidentally, in Raleigh, N.C. the city where Kannon got his start. Zazza has two projects in the works, a Zazza Mornings podcast he plans to launch March 30, and Bullies: The Reality Show, an online (for now, at least) TV show about people’s experiences with being bullied. More details on those to come.
The most recent change at KVIL before Kannon’s debut came last week, when longtime DFW radio personality Christopher Hackett was dropped as midday host. There now appears to be some sense of stability at the station with a full 5:30 a.m.- midnight lineup, with Kannon on till 10 a.m., Sybil Summers in the 10 a.m.-3 p.m. slot, Leigh Ann Adam and Courtney Kerr’s antics from 3 to 7 p.m., and Kory on from 7 to midnight.
A series of morning-show vacancies began last fall in DFW radio, but with Kannon in the KVIL slot, the only remaining open morning slot is at his former station, KLIF-FM. But Hot 93.3 has recently added Zann at night and the Crisco Kidd in the afternoons, so it’s likely that a new morning show there will be announced soon.
This story was originally published March 25, 2015 at 11:25 AM with the headline "KVIL adds Kannon in the morning."